Luggage spotter



Dec. 24, 1968 w. G. VON MEYER LUGGAGE SPOTTER vFiled June 23, 1967 FIG.2

FIG.3

INVENTOR. 04447266 6. /0A/ MAG 58 ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,417,496 LUGGAGE SPOTTER Walter G. Von Meyer, 1504 Port Jefferson Road, Sidney, Ohio 45365 Filed June 23, 1967, Ser. N0. 648,404 6 Claims. (Cl. 40-2) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The spotter unit shown herein comprises a combination advertising and luggage spotting unit. The spotter unit preferably comprises an indicator portion, a base attaching portion and an intermediate easily bendable portion. The intermediate easily bendable portion may be formed of either rubber or plastic so that the indicator portion may be easily bent over against the surface of the luggage and when free, easily snappable into upright or flat position. The device is extremely simple, inexpensive and easy to apply and is in the nature of what is called a premium article.

This invention relates to a spotter and more particularly to a spotter which can be easily applied or attached to luggage and the like.

Background of the invention The gist of the invention lies in a luggage tag which is in the nature of a spotter or flag that can be easily seen and identified from a distance. Most luggage tags are adapted to be fastened to the luggage by a chain or strap and are not only difiicult to recognize at a distance but also apt to be torn from the luggage when roughly handled. The luggage tag of the present invention comprises a spotter which can be easily applied to any surface of luggage or the like, the main spotter portion of which is normally in an upright position easily seen at a distance, the intermediate portion of which is of such construction as to easily bend over when contacted and thus makes the whole unit crushproof.

Summary The luggage spotter shown herein comprises a fiat base portion preferably coated with a pressure sensitive material, a flag or spotter portion and an intermediate portion of flexible material for allowing the spotter portion to be easily pressed downwardly to prevent its being ripped off the luggage but of such springiness to cause the indicator portion to spring upright when the luggage arrives at some distribution center where each article of luggage is usually standing upright by itself.

Description of the drawings FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional piece of luggage with one of my spotters attached thereto.

FIG. 2 is a full size view of a spotter shown attached to a surface of a piece of luggage or the like.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the spotter shown in FIG. 4 with a partially bent over spotter shown in dotted lines. FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the spotter shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 showing the spotter bent over 90.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 55 of FIG. 3 showing the base portion of the unit.

Description The luggage spotter of the present invention comprises an indicator portion 10, base portion 11 and intermediate portion 12. The indicator portion preferably comprises a thin unit of plastic or metal and preferably has a portion thereof projecting at the bottom as at 13, the end of which may be slightly enlarged. This indicator portion may be made of various colors or have large letters thereon or even an individual name.

The base portion 11 of the spotter may also be formed of metal or plastic and may be generally the shape shown in FIG. 5. The underside of the base portion preferably has secured thereto a pressure sensitive surface 14, preferably of the type having a peelable outer skin 14a which may be removed for easily pressing and adhering the base to a piece of luggage or the like.

It may be desirable to leave a portion 18 of the skin 14a open or exposed so that a very small portion of the pressure sensitive surface could be used to hold the spotter in a display container; the small exposed portion 18 could hold the base of a spotter to the bottom of a fiat display case and the upper portion could be bent over as shown in FIG. 4; one or a plurality of units could have their bases stuck to the bottom of a display case and then folded down in position.

The intermediate portion 12 of the spotter is flexible and I have found from experience that a short piece of tubing or pure Para rubber stands up best in use. The base 11 preferably has a projection 15 on the upper side thereof. The tube of rubber can be stretched and expanded over the members 13 and 15. The normal resilience of the rubber tube is sufficient to hold the parts together but is obvious that the ends of the tubing may be glued or otherwise fastened to the respective indicator and base portions. The short piece of rubber tubing being both flexible and elastic permits the spotter to take a large amount of abuse and still remain operational. The flexibility and elasticity of the rubber tube also causes the spotter to snap back in place very rapidly from a position shown in dotted lines in FIG. 4 to the full line upright position.

Instead of stretching or expanding the rubber tube 12 over the members 13 and 15, the pieces of rubber tubing can be immersed in a container of carbon tetrachloride or tetraethylchloride or similar expanding chemical. After the tubes are immersed for a short time in such chemicals, they will expand to a size where they can be easily slipped over the respective members 13 and 15 and then after being exposed to air for a very short time, the ends of the tubing will shrink in size and thus firmly anchor the same in place.

It will be further obvious that the entire spotter unit, that is, the indicator portion, the base portion and the intermediate portion could all be formed of one integral piece of plastic or rubber; however in such case, the intermediate flexible portion of plastic would not provide the snap up action provided by a rubber tube.

In FIG. 1 I have shown a luggage spotter unit 16 as applied to a conventional piece of luggage 17.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a luggage spotting unit which is extremely inexpensive, which may be readily applied to any surface such as a piece of luggage by uncovering the pressure sensitive lower surface of the base member. The indicator or flag portion unit is readily discernible at a distance and the flexible intermediate portion permits the unit to absorb forces from any direction. When the intermediate portion is formed of a rubber tube, it is very effective against exterior punishment and because of the elasticity and resilience of the tubing will cause the indicator portion to rapidly snap back into place after any bending or twisting of the unit. The base 11 of the unit is preferably of suflicient size as to permit permanent securing of the spotter to the piece of luggage and it is thus well adapted to receive advertising material on the surface thereof.

I claim:

1. A luggage spotter unit comprising an indicator portion,

a base portion adapted to be adhered to a piece of luggage or the like,

and an intermediate flexible portion connecting the indicator and base portions, the intermediate portion allowing the indicator portion to be bent over without damage to the unit and being of such resilience to cause the indicator portion to be returned to its normal position when external forces are released.

2. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein the three portions are independent elements, the indicator portion and base portion being held in assembly by the intermediate portion.

3. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein said intermediate flexible portion is hollow.

4. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein said intermediate flexible portion is formed from a length of flexible resilient tubing.

5. The combination defined in claim 4 wherein said 4 indicator member and base member have projecting portions around which the tubing is stretched to hold the parts in assembly.

6. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein the base portion is provided with a surface of pressure sensitive material.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,112,550 3/1938 Amsden 40-312 2,397,651 4/1946 Doppelt 40-20 3,234,903 2/1966 Vara 40125 X 3,346,980 10/1967 Wallace 4020 X WILLIAM H. GRIEB, Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 402O 

